Working your way up

LSATShinobi

Hello guys so I have a question. Whenever doing timed sections/PTs I always used to go into them with the mindset of attempting all of the questions be it LG,RC or LR. However needless to say, I never get to all of them. I usually get about 3 games done,3 passages and I usually end up attempting between 19-22 questions in LR.

What I noticed when I go into a PT with the mindset of finishing each section is that I do end up making careless mistakes that could've been avoided had I been just a bit more prudent. I ended up speaking with someone and they advised me that to get better with time, that I should start off not going into a section with the intention of finishing it but with the intention of getting the ones I attempt correct. And once I start getting high accuracy, to then start being aggressive and start attempting a bit more questions little at a time.

At first I hated the idea because how could someone with a certain goal in mind NOT finish the whole section? But once I thought about it, going into a section with the mindset of only completing 3 passages/games and 19-22 LR questions may not be such a bad idea because that is how much I usually get complete whenever I AM attempting to finish the section ANYWAY. So I came to the conclusion that trying that method should at bare minimum keep my score where it is at if not better because now I would be focusing more on the problems I am attempting and being more prudent in the hopes of eliminating careless mistakes.

I took a PT on Saturday with this method and just like I predicted, I ended up getting the same score I would have gotten were I going in with the mindset of completing each section.(Probably would have done worse actually seeing as how it was a pretty tricky exam and slowing down probably helped me get more points that I would not have otherwise gotten).

So in all, I guess my question is, has anyone on here ever used the what I like to call, "work your way up method"? And if so, how did it work out for you? And even if you haven't used it I would love to hear your opinions on this method. It'd be much appreciated. Thank you!

Cant Get Right

You've definitely got to be accurate before you can successfully employ a good pacing strategy. I don't think taking PTs is going to be really be what does it though. I'd suggest returning to the curriculum and reinforcing the fundamentals. Speed and mastery go hand in hand, so if you improve your understanding of the core concepts, you will improve your speed.